Cassie and the Lights (NHB Modern Plays) E-Book

Alex Howarth

• Herausgeber: Nick Hern Books
• Kategorie: Poesie und Drama
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2024

Seitenzahl: 65

Beschreibung

When her mother disappears, teenager Cassie wants to care for her sisters on her own. But can kids be parents? Or should Cassie let foster parents adopt her sisters and create a new family? Alex Howarth's play Cassie and the Lights is a tender and playful examination of what makes a family and what holds it together. Based on real-life events and interviews with children in care, it celebrates the resilience of young people and the power of sisterhood. The play has been performed at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, VAULT Festival in London, 59E59 in New York City and Adelaide Fringe Festival in Australia. It toured the UK in 2024, produced by Patch of Blue and 3 hearts canvas, in association with Southwark Playhouse and Verse Unbound. 'Glows in the darkness… a thoughtful, warm, moving hour that will leave you wanting to call whoever you think of as family' - Guardian 'Bursts with life and quirkily observed truths' - The Stage

Leseprobe

Alex Howarth

CASSIE AND THE LIGHTS

NICK HERN BOOKS

London

www.nickhernbooks.co.uk

Contents

Original Production Details

Characters

Setting

Notes for Performance

Cassie and the Lights

Acknowledgements

About the Author

Copyright and Performing Rights Information

Cassie and the Lights was first performed at VAULT Festival, London, in 2020. It was subsequently performed at Adelaide Fringe, Australia; Underbelly, Edinburgh Fringe and the Brits Off Broadway season at 59E59 Theaters, Off Broadway, New York, before transferring to Southwark Playhouse, London, from 3rd April 2024. The cast was as follows:

CASSIE

Alex Brain

TIN

Helen Chong

KIT

Emily McGlynn

Musicians

Ellie and Imogen Mason

Super Swing

Martha Walker

WITH THE VOICES OF

Alice

Louisa Harland

Mark

Oli Higginson

Jasmine

Bethany Antonia

Teacher

Wendi Peters

Lawyer

John Thomson

Social Worker

Sam Rayner

Dealer

Joseph Stevens

Writer, Director & Original Scenic Design

Alex Howarth

Co-Composers

Ellie & Imogen Mason

Lighting Designer

Will Monks

Video Designer

Rachel Sampley

Set Designer

Ruth Badila

Production Manager

Erratic Imagination Technical Services

Stage Manager

Lauren Cross

Graphic Design

Casey Jay Andrews

Producer

Patch of Blue and 3 hearts canvas in association with Southwark Playhouse and Verse Unbound

Press

Kate Morley PR

Characters

CASSIE, seventeen years old

TIN, ten years old

KIT, seven years old

MUSICIAN

Setting

Yorkshire

Notes for Performance

Other characters are recorded voices.

A slash ( / ) indicates an interruption.

A lack of punctuation at the end of a line indicates an unfinished thought.

In the original production, animation of the sisters was projected to represent Cassie’s animation project. If you choose not to create this, the line referencing it may be cut.

This ebook was created before the end of rehearsals and so may differ slightly from the play as performed.

The sisters – CASSIE, TIN and KIT – greet the audience. CASSIE finds someone to read the court hearing, TIN finds someone who she’ll talk to in the ‘The Audience’ section, and KIT offers around Party Rings. The MUSICIAN plays fun space related songs.

TIN (to the lighting operator). Are we ready ______? Okay. (Into a mic, to the audience. Clears her throat.) Hello everyone, my name is Tin and welcome to my TED Talk, or, Tin Talk, because my name is Tin and I’ll be talking. And today, what I’ll be talking about is… trinary star systems.

KIT. Tri means three.

TIN. It does. (Comes off the mic and turns to CASSIE.) Cassie – did we put new batteries in the fairy lights?

CASSIE. Duracell…

KIT. Love the bunny

TIN. And Kit did you practise?

KIT. Yeah, Elephant and Mr Potato Head said I did dead well.

TIN. Okay sorted. (Turns back to the audience and talks into the mic again.) Then the Tin Talk will begin.

Scene One – Trinary Star Systems

Beautiful electronic space music. As TIN speaks, CASSIE and KIT illustrate what she’s saying using homemade props. Although they have made it themselves, it should be beautiful and spectacular, as if we are taking a voyage inside their heads.

TIN. A trinary star system is three stars that travel together in the sky when we look at them through our telescopes. Each one of the three stars orbits, which basically means flies, around the centre of the mass of the system (or the middle bit), pulled together by gravity, usually in what is called a ‘hierarchical arrangement’, which basically means that two of the stars are super-close, and one is a little bit further away – because if it wasn’t a little bit further away the system would get unstable and one of the stars would be thrown out of the system forever and ever, amen. If you don’t have the little-bit-further-away star, the system becomes what is called a ‘trapezia’ which does ‘chaotic behaviour’, which is very complicated maths that we haven’t done at school yet but basically means they fight and you never know what they’re going to do or what’s going to happen to them, which is an especially bad and scary thing. But if there is this ‘hierarchical arrangement’, the trinary star system is stable and full of happy, and the stars move together through the universe, knowing that they are safe and can shine bright on the journey, and that they’ll never, ever, be… alone. That is the end of the Tin Talk.

The sisters bow, CASSIE and KIT giving TIN a special bow – her face glows with the applause and praise.

Scene Two – Introductions

TIN. Now that the science-y bit is done

CASSIE. Thank you for listening

KIT. We should say hello proper.

ALL. Hello!

TIN. We are Tin and Kit and Cassie and when this all started we were ten and seven and sixteen

KIT. She’s dead old

TIN. …and when we were born and little we lived in a house with our mum

KIT. Playing out and oven chips

TIN. And cos me and Kit coming out of her were surprises she didn’t know what to call us

CASSIE. So she named them after things she liked. And she were proper into Tina Turner…

TIN. So she called me Tina, but I wanted my own name so I made it shorter to Tin.

CASSIE. And then she got really into them videos of kittens on her phone – being cute and falling off of things

KIT. So she called me Kitten… but I made it shorter to Kit too like Tin did, cos kittens are well boring I’d rather have a pterodactyl.

TIN. But right now we live with Mark and Alice who are very kind and live in a big and tall house

KIT. Smells like soap

TIN. And our friends at school said is it like Tracy Beaker /

KIT. / and I said who’s Tracy Beaker is she in Year 6 and they said don’t you have a TV and I said we did until Mum sold it and they said okay and then we played British Bulldog

CASSIE. There’s a TV at Mark and Alice’s

TIN. Fifty-five inches

CASSIE. And when the girls have gone to bed and I’ve finished my homework I can watch the stuff my mates do – and I can talk about it with them in t’lunch queue instead of just… nodding along.

TIN. And they’ve got loadsa books too, that they got for kids they’ve had stay before – dead-good stories about having journeys and flying and little houses on prairies

KIT. We like stories

TIN. And this is our one.

CASSIE. That we’ll tell to you now – if you’re stopping

TIN. It’s an hour and a bit, and there’ll be time afterwards for orange squash and thinking

KIT. ______ does the music

TIN. And there’s the drawings Cassie’s done of us on the video

KIT. It’s well snazzy like

CASSIE. There’s going backwards and forwards in time which can get a bit confusing – but we hope in a good way

TIN. And there are some bits that are a bit sad – but we hope in a good way…

KIT. And there are lots of bits that are a bit fun – but in a good way… like fun always is

TIN. And we’re very… elated you came… so thank you.

ALL. Thank you very much!

KIT (whispered to them). Okay – three, two, one, then blast-off, ready? (Out.) three, two, one

ALL. BLAST-OFF!

Scene Three – School / Home / Social Services – January 2023

All talk out. Horrible overwhelming sound builds underneath.

The shared words should land at the same time.

TEACHER. Hi. Come in and take a seat.

I’ve asked Miss Johns to sit in too.

You know why I’ve called you

in Cassie.

TIN. Cassie where’s my PE shorts? I put them in t’laundry basket but they aren’t on t’drying rack

TEACHER. Now I’ve already extended your animation project

now

deadline once

KIT. Once you’ve done that can we play dinosaurs please?